This is a list of 10 great Christian rock songs. Really. I know what you’re thinking. I’m a secular Jew who always took it for granted that Christian rock stinks. Indeed, until a couple of years ago I knew virtually nothing about Christian rock except that it stinks. But after spending time inside the “evangelical bubble” I had to admit I was mistaken. It turns out there’s Christian music that never gets played on those radio stations you accidentally stumble across on road trips — and that doesn’t reduce all expressions of faith to crass evangelism, anodyne praise, or crypto-romance.

1) Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus?, Larry Norman. Norman, who died in February, was often called the father of Christian rock, an accolade he understandably spent his life fleeing from. Norman’s gritty “Jesus music” of the late 60s and early 70s bears little resemblance to homogenized ballads that the contemporary Christian music industry would later become known for. In this bluesy stomp, reminiscent of the Band at their best, he uses a series of rhymed couplets to sketch an indelible portrait of an archetypal hippie whose search for bliss isn’t quite panning out. The song’s wicked humor and uncompromising darkness are encapsulated in what is possibly the most awesome lyric ever in Christian rock: “Gonorrhea on Valentine’s Day, and you’re still looking for the perfect lay.”

2) Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer. O.K., maybe this isn’t a great song, but it’s a pretty good one, and most people actually know it so it will help me explain what Christian rock is and isn’t. This jangly pop tune, lifted somewhat above its station by singer Leigh Nash’s lovely voice, was an inescapable mainstream hit in 1999. The lyrics are unabashedly romantic: “Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance, silver moon sparkling, so kiss me.” And if you’re looking for a covert message about Jesus in them, there isn’t one. “We don’t experience faith as a compartmentalized, religious aspect of life,” Nash has said. “I don’t feel like I’m more of a Christian when I’m saying my prayers than when I’m kissing my husband.” While it should be generally possible to discern a Christian worldview permeating an artist’s oeuvre, their Christianity would arguably be less authentic if they limited their focus to explicit pronouncements of faith. As T-Bone Burnett (who almost made this list) put it, “If Jesus is the light of the world, there are two kinds of songs you can write. You can write songs about the light, or you can write songs about what you can see from the light.”

3) Born, Over the Rhine. Karin Bergquist may be the finest singer in the alt-country / Americana scene right now, striking the perfect balance between earthy sensuality and ethereal grace. This heartbreakingly intimate song from the band’s 2005 album “Drunkard’s Prayer” offers as fine an expression as you could hope for of how a Christian is called to live, without stooping to any false promises of rainbows and rose gardens: “I was born to laugh, I learned to laugh through my tears. I was born to love, I’m gonna learn to love without fear.”

4) Every Grain of Sand, Bob Dylan. One reason most Christian rock really does stink is that much of the genre is saddled by a belief that Christian musicians are simply ministers who happen to use music as a tool, and who must employ only unambiguous, propositional lyrics so that listeners can’t possibly be led astray. Even Dylan fell into that trap in his first two “born again” albums. There are some fine songs on “Slow Train Coming” and “Saved” — he was still Bob Dylan, after all — but he seemed to have suddenly become afraid of poetry. Only on the last album of the trilogy that marked his “Christian” career did Dylan loosen his grip on the reins and produce this complex testament of faith that stands with the best of his work. Of course, Dylan’s catalog — before and since his born again period — is replete with songs that reflect at least a fascination with Christian theology. If you count these, there is probably no greater Christian rock song — and few greater rock songs, period — than “Shelter From the Storm,” which uses explicit Gospel imagery to paint a harrowing portrait of sinful man separated from God and in search of redemption.

5) The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes and The Pride of Life, the 77s. Given the relentlessly upbeat tone of Christian radio — “Positive music! Safe for your family!” as the announcers like to say — you might forget that the Bible does not guarantee a carefree life for believers. The best Christian rock wrestles with those things that “drain the life right out of me,” in the words of this 1987 meditation on 1 John 2:16. You don’t have to be a Christian to recognize that we all spend too much time chasing after possessions and fleeting joys that we don’t really need. This Springsteen-esque rocker offers no pat answers, it just raises some important questions.

6) Rapture, Pedro the Lion. Before he finally (or so he says) abandoned the Christian music scene sometime around 2006, Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan delighted in shaking the faith of his churchgoing audiences. Bazan apparently believed that faith without doubt breeds a dangerous righteousness. So it must have been a calculated thumb in the eye to write a chorus like, “Oh, my sweet rapture, I hear Jesus calling me home” for a song about a torrid extramarital affair. “Gideon is in the drawer, clothes scattered on the floor.” Rapture is not celebratory (few of Bazan’s emo-tinged songs are), but it’s honest enough to admit that some things that are wrong can feel pretty right.

7) Nice and Blue (Part 2), mewithoutYou. This sonically adventurous indie rock ensemble has fiercely devoted following that often seems to revere singer-songwriter Aaron Weiss as a modern-day prophet. In this 2006 song, Weiss brings the full power of his pleading speech-singing — think early Neil Young — to a visionary epic of self-recrimination for his persistent failure to accept God’s grace. Weiss is “caught like a bear by the bees with its hand in the hive, who complains of the pain of the sting when I’m lucky I got out alive.” Like Mike Roe of the 77s, he is doomed (at least, withoutYou) to pursue useless pleasures “strapped like a watch on my wrist that’s finished with gold but can’t tell the time.”

8) My Apology, Jonathan Rundman. Despite its literally confessional lyrics, this is a bright, catchy indie-pop song. Rundman, who recorded this for a 2001 double album called “Sound Theology,” is one of the few mainline Christians (he’s Lutheran) writing recognizably Christian rock. Like most people, Rundman has trouble confessing his sins, at one point attempting to justify his cynicism of the church by pointing out to God that “I’m surrounded by bigots and fools who say your love is a heavenly paycheck and faith is all about rules.” But then, like a good, anguished Lutheran (and indie rocker) he acknowledges that he’s “guilty of going the opposite way” as he “sit[s] here cheapening grace.”

9) You Know That (Is Nothing New), Vigilantes of Love. A deliciously infectious power pop song that would fit comfortably in a mix with Marshall Crenshaw, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and even the Kinks. This song would have dominated mainstream rock radio in 2001 if it hadn’t been on a Christian label. Not that there’s any message in the lyrics a secularist could object to. It’s a love song — or perhaps a love of life song — that never gets more preachy than, “It’s the opening of hearts that is the closing of the deepest wounds.”

10) Come On, Andy Hunter. Christian techno music is one of the hardest genres for non-Christians to get their heads around. If there are no lyrics, what makes it Christian? I’ve dodged the issue here by choosing a track that does have one shouted line: “Let your kingdom come.” Hunter, a British DJ, is equally at home spinning at worship services and in secular clubs. The deliriously propulsive “Come On” pops up regularly in video games and movie trailers (most recently for “Speed Racer”). Given how irresistibly energizing it is, that shouldn’t be a surprise, but somehow it is. Maybe minimal lyrics is what it takes for Christian music to get a fair hearing in the wider world.

Great article. Wonderful list of some lesser known Christian artists. Btw, I played drums in Sixpence and am the drummer on that track you featured. I also played with Over the Rhine on a couple of tours and can vouch for their artistic greatness. Thanks for including the link to the music. It’s great to read what you had to say and then be able to listen to the tracks as well. Best of luck with the book! (//www.dalebakerdrummer.com)

You Know That (Is Nothing New) by Vigilantes of Love wasn’t on a Christian label. It’s on the album Summershine, which was released by the Nashville label Compass (home to Alison Brown). It still didn’t dominate, though.

I am a fan of Jonathan Rundman, so it is good to see him mentioned! (I’m also a Lutheran.) I also know the Six Pence None The Richer song (part of it is now used in a Sun Chips commercial). I’m off to listen to the other songs!

Have you ever dived into gospel?
Maybe start with Mahalia Jackson, ‘Didn’t It Rain’, a bravura display from Mahalia and her brilliant pianist Mildred Falls.
Maybe avoid the duet with Harpo Marx, though.

This might say something about what it takes for “Christian” music to actually be good, but most of these bands don’t really (or no longer do) operate in the “parallel universe” Radosh writes about in his book. I’m happy to see mewithoutYou on this list. When I was 16, I couldn’t imagine hearing lyric like “Oh my God, I wanna SHOOT myself just THINKING about it!” on a Tooth and Nail release. There’s something really dangerous and unbalanced about that band, in a good way. (PS: I had to resist years of adolescent training from youth group and Christian rock radio to stop myself from writing “But David Bazan’s not a Christian any more!”)//unscene.blogspot.com

A very insightful list. I especially liked your comments on Dylan and his “Christian” albums. So many critics have dismissed those out-of-hand simply because they were Christian. There are some good songs on those and I would agree that Every Grain of Sand is the best.
Although I’m not familiar with every one of these artists, there are several here who have extensive catalogs and I’d encourage your readers to seek out their other work. A few others I’d mention that would rank right along with these are Mark Heard, Daniel Amos, Bruce Cockburn and Tonio K.

Go Rundman. Go OTR. Oh I like the whole list. Thank you for reinforcing the notion that what label you’re on or which radio station you are played is NOT the criteria by which your music should be defined as Christian or non-Christian. Great statements of faith happen on mainstream and indie labels and great crimes against the faith happen on “positive, encouraging” stations. I will never forget the day I was told “You’re too REAL for Christian music,” by a label exec. It’s still my favorite quote.

Thanks for this list. I abhor most of what gets perpetrated on the masses as legit Christian rock these days. It’s recycled rock riffs that have been hashed and rehashed from other bands and layered over insincere lyrics. However, I’ve been following this genre for 25+ years and there are some truly talented artists that rarely see the light of day: The 77’s (mentioned above), The Choir, Randy Stonehill, Daniel Amos, etc. etc.

Great list! Many of my favorite artists are listed … VOL/Bill Mallonee, Over the Rhine, 77s … all of these lists seem to always overlook one of my all time favorites – Richie Furay – founding member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and the Souther Hillman Furay Band … Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1997 … and senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado. His latest, “Heartbeat of Love”, is his first secular recording in years and enlists the help of many of his old bandmates … Neil Young, Paul Cotton, Rusty Young, Stephen Stills, Timothy Schmit … as well as a host of other notables to include the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Jeff Hanna, Kenny Loggins, Sam Bush, Al Perkins, Dan Dugmore and many others. It’s worth a listen! … so are most recent worship recordings … “I am Sure” and “In My Fathers’ House”.

Good list. Thanks! And to Dick Staub for the link. May I suggest Scott Leger – his music tackles the discrepencies between faith, Hope, and our selves, in simple deep and compelling lyrics with a rock alt flair and not a drop of preachy anywhere.

I enjoyed the debate, but I would like to add a couple of ideas to the mix:

Let me define music (my definition): Music the the artistic expression of human emotion through sound.

Let me define Christianity: People who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ according to historic teachings of the apostles and the church as they find those teachings in the Holy Bible.

So, to the “opponent” in the debate I want to say that his narrow definition of “Rock N Roll” as music that is about sex and hedonism and thus at odds with historic Christianity is just wrong-headed. In short, he says that “Rock and Roll is music that comes from the crotch.” There are many emotions that can be expressed through the musical forms of rock music. There are many parts of the body that can be expressed through Rock and Roll other than the crotch. Hard rock would be a great “setting” for the minor prophets or the maledictory Psalms, and many other Biblical texts.

My point is that the style of the music is an emotional expression of the person, and if the person is a Christian then the emotional expression made through music would have to be considered Christian … even if the musical form is rock. And as to whether it sucks or not, well Christians don’t have a monopoly on that market, just turn on the radio.

I second Paul Casey’s recommendations of Mark Heard and Bruce Cockburn, and would also add that Delirious? belongs in this list, particularly if you’re looking for songs that rock. “Mezzamorphis”, “Glo”, and “The Mission Bell” are albums that stand on their own as great rock albums. Third Day’s “Wherever You Are” is also an excellent album – both thoughtful and propulsive. Finally, Rich Mullins is not an artist that can be ignored in any discussion of intelligent, sincere, and poetic Christian music. The problem with some of the more melancholy stuff (which Radosh apparently likes) is that many of its practicioners come off as quite self-absorbed (Bill Mallonee of Vigilantes of Love in particular, but the 77s as well, listen to “Drowning With Land In Sight”). Mullins’ music (sadly, he is gone) is reflective and honest, but never lost sight of the fact that he was a bit player in what God is doing – both in his own sphere and in history. This is why his first two albums continue to be refreshing even though the sound is horribly outdated. May God bless you.

It is incredible to see this kind of recognition for Christian music here—very rare. Thank you! I also love Mark Heard; check out the tribute album Orphans of Love, with lots of artists (including, for example, Bruce Cockburn) doing covers of Mark’s music. I do wish you had some more recent names included, like Kevin Max, but still . . . this is great.